Signal system



Sept. 14 1926.

w. T. MAXWELL SIGNAL SYSTEM Filed March 21, 1 25 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR II l1 ET [31171] CTII L TT T PATENT oFFlce.

WILLIAM. EIGHTHS To JOHN GASS, or

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

SIGNAL j SYSTEM;

Application tiled March 21, 1925. Serial No. 17,278.

My invention relates to signaling systems and is particularly directed to a system 0i warning signals for use on points where highways cross railway track at grade, or where railroads cross one another.

One object of my invention is to provide a systemwherein lamps are illuminated along the highway at distances from the crossing corresponding to the distance at which a train which isapproaching the crossing may be. 1

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved system of warning signals that are rendered operative when a train is close to the crossing.

Another object of my invention is'to provide a system wherein the position of the lamps that are illuminated will indicate from which direction a train is approach- %& further object of my invention is to provide an electrical signal system, the energy for which will be supplied from the locomotive or other railway vehicle.

Still another object of my invention is to simplify andimprove generally the structure and arrangement, as well as the operation, of signal systems.

One form which my invention may take is shown in the accompanying drawing wherein Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a portion of a locomotive, showing diagrammatically one manner in which a portion of the apparatus may be connected thereto; Figs. 2 and 3 are end and side'elevational views, respectively, of a modified form of a contact shoe arrangement; Fig. 4 is an elevational view showing some of the warning signals and themanner in which they are positioned with respect to the crossing; F1g. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the wirplan view showing the manner 1n which The shoe 10 is normally held in position to effect contacting engagement with a conductor bar 13 by means of the electrode magnet 9. If the switch 7 be opened and the switch 8 closed, the magnet 12 will be'energized to move the shoe outeof engagement with the bar 13. A spring 14 may-also be employed for. this purpose. When it is de-, sued to bring the shoe into contact with the bar 13, the switch 8 is opened and the switch 7 is closed to energize the. magnet 9, since the GlI'Clllil lS-COIllPlQlZGd to ground at 11.

The shoe 10 may besecured to any port1on of the locomotive, a locomotive tender or a car in position to automatically contact with a bar or series of contacts 13,"a plurality of which are provided along side the railroad track, as shown in 5 and explained more in detail hereinafter.

Instead of the shoe being in the form show n.in Fig.- 1, it may take the form shown inFigs. 2 and 3, wherein the shoes 10? are normally biased downwardly by a, spring 15 and are connected through a vertically slidable bar 10 to a. magnet 9 that in turn T. MAXWELL, OF ZITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA} ASSIGNOR OF 'IIHIREE- may be connected with a generator and to ground as by conductors 6 and '6.

A shoe 10 or 1O will preferably be mounted at each side of the locomotive and may be connected to a single generator, in a manner well known in the art.

The bars 13 are preferably each made in a plurality of sections as indicated in Fig. 6, in order to save material, and are each composed of a plurality of spaced contact blocks 16, eachof which may bemounted CD a block or bracket 17 and which are connected by copper strips or similar conduc tors 18. The supporting members 17..may take the form of a continuous-wooden bar if desired, or may be of any suitable material.

'ing arrangement of my system; 6 is a The members 16, 17 and 18 just described enter into the construction ofgeach of'the one of the contact bars of Fig. 5 may be bars. shown in Fig. 5, such-bars being inmade. and Fig. 7 is'a sectional view thereof. Referring to Fig. 1, I have shown a portion of a locomotive 2 upon which is mount- 7. and 8. The switch 7 is connected, through.

-,a...'solenoid coil 9, with a contact shoe 10 and to ground at 11, while the switch 8 is con nected to ground through a solenoid coil 12.

idicated as 20, 26, 30, etc., eachpf; which may extend for some hundreds of; yards.

WhileI have shown current gas being-. supplied from the generator to ,.-the j system, through a shoe and bars or seriesof contacts disposed along side the railroad.rails,'it will be apparent that wires could be strung at apoint above or along sidegoffthe railroad,

tracks and contact made fromthe generator through a trolley.

I have shown my device applied contact bar 20, which may be located at say one mile from the crossing, the circuit is completed through conductors 21 and 22,

lamps and conductor 24, to ground, at 25. A driver on the highway, approaching the crossin from either direction, will be apprised y the illumination of the lamps 23 that a train is approaching the crossing frolm the right, at a distance of about one m1 e. 1

When the engine reaches the bar26, which may be three-fourths of a mile from the crossing, the circuitwill be closed through conductors 27 and 28, lamps 29, and conduc tor 24, to ground.

When the locomotive reaches the bar30, which may be approximately one-half mile from the crossing, the circuit will be closedthrough conductors 31 and 32, lamps 33, and

above the roadway,

conductor 24, to ground, thus indicatingto users of the highway that a trainis apprihaching at a .distanceof about one half m e. c

A bar 34"is located at a distance of about one-fourth mile fromthe crossing, and the brush 10 will thereby close a circuit through conductors 35 and 36, lamps 37, and conductor 24, to ground. A. circuit will also be closed, through conductors 35 and 38, and solenoid 39, to ground. The solenoid 39 will close switch 40, thus completing a circuit through conductors '41 and 42, lamps 43 and conductor 44, to ground. Through a branch 45, a cir'cuitis also completed through lamps 46 and conductor 47 to ground at 48. The lamps 43 and 46 burn steadily, as long as the shoe 10 is in contact with the bar 34. These lamps are preferably red and are disposed at the crossing, lamps 43 being between the track and a person "approaching the track from one side of the railroad and lamps '46 are located at the op poslte slde of the tracks, so as to be readily seen by a person traveling in the opposite direction. Current from the conductor 41 will flow through-a conductor 49, solenoid 50 and -switch 51 to ground, at 52. Current will also energization of the coil 50, thus permittingthe' spring 60 to return such switches to the position shown. It will thus be seen/that the switches will vibrate, to alternately make and break the circuits through the lamps 5 7-58 and 6364, thus causing an intermittent illumination of such lamps, to more forcibly draw the attention of users of the highway to the fact that a train is quite close to the crossing.

The lamps 57 and 63 may be disposed above the roadway at one side of the railroad tracks and the lamps 58 and 64 at the other side thereof, so as to be more easily seen by persons approaching from either direction.

The bars 20, 26, 30 and 34 are substantially duplicated at the opposite side of the highway, as represented at 20 26 30 and 34". These are connected to lamps 23*, 29 33 and 37, in the same manner as the first named bars are to the lamps 23, 24, 33 and 37.

Conductor 36, which is in the circuit of' the bars 34 and lamps '37, is connected, through a conductor 38 to a solenoid coil 39*, to ground. A switch 40 connects con-- ductor 38 to conductors 41 42 and 49.

From 49, the lamps 43 and 46 are energized as described at length above. a

The row of lamps 23, etc., at one side of the roadway will thus be' illuminated when ya train is approaching from that side, and v the row of lamps 23*, etc., will be illuminated by a train approaching from the other direction, while the lamps 43 and 46 will be illuminat'ed by a train from either direction, as

will also the intermittently energized lamps 57'58 and 6364.

In order that a person standing near the [track may determine at what distance the approaching train is from the crossing, 1 provide atone side of the roadway lamps '23, 29, 33, and 37 a connected to the conductors 22, '28, .32 and 36, respectively and through conductor 24 to ground. At the other side of the roadway I provide lamps 23, 29 33 and 37 ductor 24 to ground, and in parallel with lamps 23 29, 33 and 37*. A person at the crossing can thus tell whether the train is a mile away, for instance, and whether he has time to cross the track, and whether the train is moving. For instance, the lamps 23 or 23 may be lit, and the succeeding lamps unlit. If this condition exists for a considerable period of time the observer will know that either the train is approaching very slowly indeed, or that it is at a stand-still. If the engine is brought to astandstill near a crossing, the engineer, in order to deenergize the danger signals and thereby permit traffic to move along the highway, may

open switch 7 and close the switch 8, to raise.

connected through conmeans? track it, past the bars 20", 26", etc.

Alongside the track B and opposite to the bars 20, 26, 30 and 34, I provide bars 20, 26, 30 and 34, that are connected to the lamps 28, 29, 33, and 87 in the same manner as are the bars 20, 26, 30 and 34, so thatthe signals will be operated by a train onv the track B as it approaches the crossing from that side of the roadway.

An additional signal, represented in Figs. 4: and 5 as a swinging Stop sign, may be caused to oscillate by means of electromagnets 67 and 68 that are connected to ground at one end and have their other poles connected. at 69 and 7().'to conductors 61 and 55. The coils 67 and 88 will therefore be'alternately energized to actuate the magnetizable arm of a pendulum 71, to cause it to oscillate about its pivot 72. One of these stops signs may be mounted at each side of the tracks above the roadway.

It will be apparent that various of the lamps and bars may be dispensed with in cases where it is desired to simplify the sys tem. For instance, instead of a plurality of bars at each side of the track, a single bar could be located at a point some distance from the crossing and one or more lamps connected thereto, to be energized by an approaching train, and another contact bar disposed adjacent to the crossing to which another lamp or lamps, preferably red, might be connected to indicate that the train is dangerously close to the crossing.

Similarly the lamps 23, 29, 33, etc., can be disposed at any desired distance from the crossing, or be dispensed with entirely.

It is not necessary that current for the system be supplied from a'locomotive, since batteries or other sources of electric current may be employed and automatically placed in circuit with the signals, by a moving train, in various well known ways.

I claim as my invention:

1. A signaling system adapted for use at railway crossings, comprising a plurality of electrical contact devices disposed at varying distances from the crossing, and a lamp having connect-ion with each of said contact devices and disposed in a direction transversely of the track at a distance'corresponding to the distance at which its associated contact device is located from the crossing.

2. A signaling system adapted for use at railway crossings, comprising a plurality of electrical contact devices disposed at varying distances from thecrossing, and a pair of lamps having connection with each of said contact devices and disposed in a direction transversely of the track at distances to either side of the track corresponding to the distance at which their associated contact devices are located.

3. .A signaling system adapted for use at railway crossings, comprising a plurality of electrical contact devices disposed at varying distances from the crossing, a lamp having connection with each of said contact devices and disposed in a direction transversely of the traclr at a distance corresponding to the distance at which its associated contact device is located from the crossing, and a second lamp connected to each of said contact devices, each of said second lamps being located adjacent to the crossing.

4. Electrical signaling systems for railway crossings, comprising a plurality of contact devices disposed at various distances from the crossing in position to be engaged by a railway vehicle, means for completing clrcuits through said devices when so engaged, a lamp connected to each of said contact devices, a pair of electromag nets connected to one of said contact devices, switches for controlling the flow of current through said magnets, means in the'circuit for intermittently actuating said switches to effect energization of said magnets alternately, and a swinging stop sign disposed adjacent to said magnets and operable thereby. 1

5. Electrical signaling systems for highway crossings at railways, comprising a plurality of contact devices disposed alongside the ,railway, at one side of the highway crossing, a signaling lamp connected to each of said contact devices and disposed along that side of the highway which is adjacent to said contact devices and placed at predetermined distances from the railway.

In testimony whereof I, the said WILLIAM T. MAxwnnL, have hereunto set my hand. WILLIAM T. MAXWELL. 

